1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a three-dimensional (3D) urban modeling apparatus and method, and, more particularly, to a 3D urban modeling apparatus and method, which uses a digital elevation model and images captured from an aircraft or captured on the ground.
2. Description of the Related Art
Map services using high-resolution satellite images have been widely popularized alongside the propagation of the ultra high-speed Internet.
In addition, road view- or street view-type services that use terrestrial images captured on the ground have attracted attention as a new type of service.
Map services using satellite images are provided so that building or road names can be indicated on satellite images covering an area that a user desires to look over, and so that a path can be occasionally searched for after a source and a destination have been given.
Further, map services enable images captured from a relevant area by the user on the ground to be uploaded onto a server and allow the atmosphere of the area as well as satellite images to be viewed even using terrestrial images. Furthermore, such a map service also enables a three-dimensional (3D) model personally produced by the user to be shared, thus enabling a relevant area to be viewed in three dimensions.
However, a map service using satellite images is disadvantageous in that the satellite images may have low resolution depending on the region, thereby making it difficult to accurately identify a certain region and providing slightly monotonous images.
In contrast, a road view or street view service which has recently been initiated provides a service for acquiring images using an omnidirectional camera (for example, a device capable to of capturing the entire field of view corresponding to 360° at a time) mainly mounted on a vehicle, and for displaying the captured images in the form of a continuous panorama of images. Accordingly, the user can gain information about a relevant area in an environment in which he or she seems to look around the area from the position of being on the actual street. Further, such a road view or street view service enables a service associated with satellite images because a camera is operated in association with a Global Positioning System (GPS) to know the captured location when capturing images.
These conventional technologies are intended to provide two-dimensional plane information.
Meanwhile, research into the generation of a 3D model of a building using satellite images or aerial images has also been widely carried out.
However, since the portion that a building occupies in most images is small, the accuracy of the building is deteriorated. Further, there are problems in that the textures of the sides of a building are not indicated in many cases, and that the quality of textures is inferior on the whole.